“Kate?” Hannah appears in front of me and hands me a new glass. It’s cold and not a wine glass. “I think you need to drink this.”
“Unless it’s alcohol, I’m not interested.”
“Do you want me to call Lily over here?” She presses the glass to my hand and sticks a straw in my mouth. I pull a sip from it despite wanting to resist it. “Or, I don’t know, someone else?”
“I’m fine.” I say around the straw. “Really.”
“I can stay, if you’d like some company. I know we never see each other outside of work, but I won’t mind.”
“No, no. I’m okay. Just a long day. He sucks.”
“I’m so sorry about David.”
“Fuck David.”
Fuck both of them, really. I don’t know what karmic deity I pissed off, but I guess it was all of them? Why else would my life spiral so wildly out of control? Every time I think I’ve found happiness, it zips away. There’s no winning for Kate. None allowed at all.
“I’ll have Lily call and check on you in a bit, okay? You can decide then if she needs to come over. I don’t think you should be alone tonight.”
“I’m always alone.” I mutter. “It’s nothing new.”
Hannah floats near the door, clearly conflicted. It angers me because she has no business being conflicted. Her life is neatly paved out with no exit ramps in sight. She’s so young and perky and has a loving boyfriend who sends her flowers just because it’s Tuesday. She needs to cut out the conflicted shit.
“Go.” I shoo her out. “Thanks for the concern, but I need to be alone right now.”
“If you’re sure.” Hannah frowns. “I put the boxes on your desk.”
“I’ll look at them tomorrow.”
“Okay. I’ll go.” She hesitates at the door again. “Have a good night, Kate.”
I wave over my shoulder and stare at the TV. I hear the door click behind me and I jump up to pull across the chain so no one else with a key can come in. I didn’t even remember giving Hannah a key, but everything is sort of fuzzy right now anyway.
I turn on the TV and it cues up a freeze frame of the video I made of my night with Eric. My fist closes around the remote until it aches. What did I do to this man that made him ignore me after we shared such an intense afternoon together?
I was so close to telling him I loved him. I know he thought about telling me the same. Now, nothing. He didn’t get to be scared. He didn’t get to hide. I couldn’t hide, why should he? Did he get bored of me? Did he decide sex with the same person got boring and he wanted to go back to fishing in the local pools again?
Stupid men. They were all the same. I should have become a nun the last time I thought about it. I’m not religious but maybe I can tell them I’m curious. Or maybe I can lie. Enough time in this stupid town has made me pretty good at it.
Across the apartment, my phone rings. I trip over the couch trying to get it and probably break my toe. I struggle back to my feet and limp to the kitchen counter, but it switches to voicemail before I can grab it.
It was Eric.
I immediately hit the redial button, but get sent straight to voicemail. After three tries, I give up. He’ll see I called and call back, surely. I pace in the kitchen, waiting for his call again.
The corkscrew sits on top of the coffee maker. How did it get there?
The ringtone for a voicemail chimes and I fly to the app to listen. I want to just hear his voice again, more than anything. I want to hear him say he’s been busy and he’s sorry he hasn’t been in touch. I want to hear him say he needs me again.
“It’s me. This is the last time I’ll call. It’s over, Kate. I’m your husband’s lawyer and I’m not going to get disbarred over this. Don’t bother calling me anymore.”
The message ends and I stare at my phone. There is no way I heard what I think I did. It was the wine talking. I replay it three times. By then, tears stream down my face and I can’t breathe. A guttural scream erupts out of me and I throw my wine glass against the wall.
It shatters into a hundred pieces. Just like me.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ERIC
“Another, Becky.” I drop the shot glass on the bar and nudge it forward. “Better make it two.”
“And a water.” Paxton says.
“Fuck off.”
“Big water.”
“I hate you. Why are we friends?”
“We bonded over a joint hatred of Geoff.”
“You both can go straight to hell.” Geoff says it like he’s waving off flies. Getting laid cleaned him up good. “And be nice to Becky tonight.”